Uncle-Thanks for the support! I've hunted down some rare colors and make ups since I got in the game 3 months ago. I've got my name down at a lot of Alden dealers for upcoming color, mainly Ravello. I will be posting photos of trophies soon!

If you are 11.5D in Barrie and Van, your Aberdeen size should be 12D and Leydon size likely 12E. Not sure why you would have considered 11D in Aberdeen. Sounds like you should be 12D tts.

This sounds right. I also don't know why you would try an 11 on Aberdeen if you already know you wear an 11.5 Barrie, especially considering your foot is on the wider side of a D width. I agree you are probably closer to a 12E on the Leydon.

By the way, is there any way to do a decent search on SF? Search StyleForum gives me forum results, like this one for example, which has 3400 pages of content with no way that I can figure out to search within. There's such a stupid-amazing wealth of information here, but it's been really difficult for me to access & seems to keep new folks asking the same basic questions over & over again.

Anyway, it may be heretical around these parts, but I really hate hard-bottoms. I live in a very wet climate & they wear out incredibly fast, plus they're heavy & don't have the best grip. I want to swap out the (already worn-through) leather bottoms on two pair of Aldens for Vibram or something equally durable (commando sole?). Will I need to ship to Alden to do this or can a cobbler take care of it for me? Anyone have any advice for me?

By the way, is there any way to do a decent search on SF? Search StyleForum gives me forum results, like this one for example, which has 3400 pages of content with no way that I can figure out to search within. There's such a stupid-amazing wealth of information here, but it's been really difficult for me to access & seems to keep new folks asking the same basic questions over & over again.

Anyway, it may be heretical around these parts, but I really hate hard-bottoms. I live in a very wet climate & they wear out incredibly fast, plus they're heavy & don't have the best grip. I want to swap out the (already worn-through) leather bottoms on two pair of Aldens for Vibram or something equally durable (commando sole?). Will I need to ship to Alden to do this or can a cobbler take care of it for me? Anyone have any advice for me?